Friday, April 12, 2013

I have been learning about quilt restoration. Mandy asked me if I could "save" 4 old family quilts that she had. Actually there were 5 but we decided right up front that one of them was beyond restoration. She may use it for stuffed animals or some other memorabilia. The other 4 I brought home and have sat on for almost a year. I decided after Christmas that one of my goals for the year is to finish stuff. I don't normally make such lofty commitments but having these 4 quilts plus another for other people as well as a host of my own projects needing finishing spurred me on.

I tackled the hexagon quilt first, I suppose because I like hexagons. I wish I had taken before and after pictures so you could see the immensity of the task. One whole corner was torn away. My solution was to remove 5 blocks from one end and use those blocks to fill in the corner. This also had the effect of making the quilt more symetrical. I made white and yellow hexagons to fill in the paths in some of the flowers. I also replaced an additional dozen whole or part flowers where they were too frayed to be usable. Then I replaced some pieces of the backing that needed filling in and quilted the areas where I had added new pieces.

Last but not least I rebound the quilt in a pale green. Throughout the quilt I tried to use reproduction fabrics to maintain the flavor of the quilt. With Mandy's permission I trimmed all the sides so I had some straight areas rather than zig zagging the binding around each hexagon as in the original quilt. There were still plenty of points and corners!

I was very pleased with the finished quilt. While it is still somewhat frail it is still a quilt that can be used with care and enjoyed for its beauty and memories. Finishing this quilt spurred me on to tackle the next one.

In researching the block a bit I was pleased to find it is called "Flying X". It is a Kansas City Star newspaper pattern. This is fitting because the maker, Mandy's great aunt or grandmother is from the Kansas City area.﻿

This quilt originally was comprised of 20 blocks width 4-5" sashing between them. Some of the blocks were badly faded or had damaged spots so I chose the best 12. The fabric used for the sashing was of much inferior quality and had deteriorated beyond the stage of saving. I cut out all the blocks with a 1/2"seam allowance all around and added 1" sashing front and back using a quilt-as-you-go style.The original sashing was white but I replaced it with a reproduction blue fabric which gives a bit more life to the blocks. It is bound with the same color. This makes a charming little quilt that with gentle care can be used and enjoyed.My next 2 quilts to restore are a 6 point diamond quilt and a bow tie but I'm going to take a break and work on a couple other projects first.